Nollywood’s Unrefined Portrayal of Sex Work and Sex Workers​

Nigerian filmmakers must break free from ingrained stigma, clichés, caricature characters, and internalized disdain for sex work by taking a step further in investigating the lives and individual choices of their characters to challenge normative perceptions and create lasting, meaningful art. 

After watching Kenneth Gyang’s 2019 film, Òlòturé, and its sequel, Òlòtūré: The Journey, a recurring flaw in Nollywood’s portrayal of sex work and sex workers became impossible to ignore. Since the late 1900s to early 2000s, this storytelling pattern, with few exceptions, has been a staple of old Nollywood classics and has since been adopted by new Nollywood filmmakers. Though a sensitive topic, some Nigerian productions offer a shallow, pretentious portrayal of sex work. In their hollow attempts to ‘address’ the issue, they often lack a compelling story. Beyond showing glimpses of suffering and violence, these films rarely explore the lives of their characters beyond their roles as sex workers. Moreover, the films mostly present sex workers as morally corrupt individuals, rather than victims of a broken system—though some are. These films fail to convey how sex work reflects the cracks in that system.

From old Nollywood productions—Zeb Ejiro’s Domitilla, Chika Onukwufor’s Glamour Girls, Chris Obi Rapu’s Living in Bondage, to new Nollywood productions—Gyang’s Òlòturé, Bunmi Adesoye’s Glamour Girls remake, Adeoluwa Owu’s, Adire, Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, Nollywood filmmakers have immersed themselves in capturing the realities of sex work and sex workers. To varying degrees of depth and understanding, success, and failure, Nigerian filmmakers have devoted their time and skill to telling stories about sex work and sex workers. These films and series chronicle the daily realities of Nigerian sex workers. In a fictional world, we witness the imminent dangers and traumatic realities sex workers face. Through these productions, filmmakers repeatedly emphasize the numerous inescapable responsibilities that lead each girl into the world of sex work...